The next morning, we drove a few miles to Wyeth national forest campground, and set up camp. It is a beautiful camp in tall pines. The camp is small, but the sites are paved, and only $10 per night. And did I mention it is beautiful here?
We met two other Airstreamers from Fort Collins, Colorado, and visited with them for a few hours, and walked on the beach.
We drove inland to interstate 5, and made it to California. The scenery changed from the rain forest to a much drier landscape, but the terrain is about the same. We saw two old Franklin cars at a rest stop, and I thought of dad.
The one had a 1929 license plate, but I'm not sure if that was the year of the car. The driver said the front one was the only known model like it, and his was one of five known. Pretty rare.
Again, the picture doesn't do justice.
We drove into Gresham, and met Randy and Nancy Alcorn. It was great to meet and visit with them.
Nancy and Randy
Richard, Maggie, and Randy
Nancy and Randy in front of their house
On the way back to Wyeth, we drove the historic highway 30 to Multnomah falls.
Shelly at the viewpoint
The Columbia river gorge
Shelly at Multnomah
the falls were crowded, but still spectacular.
Apparently Sunday afternoons are the day to visit the falls. Or maybe everyday is like this. The drive hugs the mountain, while overlooking the Columbia gorge, and has lush ferns growing under the huge trees. I would say everyone should see this, but after yesterday, I think everyone has.
On Monday, we hiked on the trail going up the creek from our camp.
Shelly on another bridge. "It's just another rock, dad"
She looked down on me for taking another picture
There's a lot of greenery here
In the afternoon, we took a drive to see mount Hood.
Mount Hood
Me blocking scenery.
Shelly singing and dancing.
Interesting basalt rocks. "It's just another bridge, dad"
Tuesday morning and we're going west. To the Pacific to be specific. I just had to say it. We stopped at Cape Lookout just west of Tillamook, Oregon, and set up camp for a few days.Shelly and driftwood.
Looking for sand dollars
In the distance, you can see the arch rock sea stack
We didn't find any whole sand dollars in the evening, so we decided to get up early to look. We were up at 5:15, and got on the beach early. We found 16 whole sand dollars.
Shelly went into Tillamook to do laundry and buy groceries, while I spent a lazy afternoon reading. We visited with our Airstream friends, and watched most of the movie "Independence Day". The DVD kept skipping and stopping, so I tried to clean it at the end. So, we saw all but the last 5 minutes of the movie. We can guess how it ended.A reflection of Shelly reflecting on the trip.
A neat pattern in the sands of time
Tide pool
Driving south on Highway 101 is beautiful. We are still in the rain forest, and it was raining for some reason. The highway drives along the coast and is very curvy and hilly. 
Our camp
Tomahawk chop
You can barely see the ocean in the background, and the trees and shrubs are very dense.
Waves!
Driftwood on the beach
A seagull posing in front of a lighthouse
Shelly posing in front of a lighthouse
The scenery is gorgeous, but after about 4 hours of driving and only getting about 100 miles down the coast, we decided to stop at Carter lake national forest campground.
The sites here are $20, and there are only a few other people in the park. There were some pine logs here that I was able to split for firewood.
I hiked about a mile to the beach through some dense underbrush. Getting a trail through here must have been a tough job.
When I got back, Shelly had a fire going, so I got to rest after the hike.
Me waiting for the fire to burn down.
We went East on hwy 89 through McCloud and stopped at the first national forest campground about 4 p. m. It was full, and we started thinking we might have to spend the night in a Walmart parking lot, since it is Friday the 13th, and a full moon. Luckily, the next camp, only had a few campers in it, and was just as pretty. It is Cattle camp national forest campground, and has lots of big pines, and very quiet. $15 per night
We got a great night's sleep in this quiet park, and made it through Friday the 13th with no bad luck. Leaving the camp, we found some huge pine cones, and had to collect some of them.
Shelly showing off her big cones!
We drove through Reno, Nevada, on our way to Lake Tahoe. The traffic was crazy, and there were people everywhere around Lake Tahoe. It was not looking good for finding a camp. The first three national forest camps we passed were all full. We stopped at Sugar pines State park about 3 P. M. They had one site left, and we were almost glad to pay $35 for it. As we pulled in to the camp, Shelly noticed we had a flat tire on the camper.
The sidewall was ruined, so I guess I had been driving on it for a few miles.
We stopped after driving only a few hours in Bootleg national forest campground. The only other person in the camp was the host when we set up camp. What a difference from Tahoe. It is a nice camp and only $20 with Walter and flush toilets. We're living high on the hog now. I hiked down to the river and tried panning for gold. After about 45 minutes I still haven't seen even a flake of gold. Either gold is rare, or I am not doing this right. Or maybe both.
Me, celebrating Father's Day in style. We sat by the fire until almost dark, and then watched a movie. Really roughing it. So far, we have only had electric hookups 7 nights, and did not need electricity then. The solar panels have kept the batteries over 90%, even camping in shaded camps for several nights.
Sadie checking out our camp.
The camp was nice, but not any better than the $15 site we were in last night. I guess that's Lake Tahoe. 
Interesting flowers, while hiking down by the creek
Back to Nevada! The easiest way south, was to go north around Lake Tahoe then east into Nevada, and then back into California.
Lake Tahoe
Tahoe again
The road disappears. There is a steep drop off on both sides and in front of us. We survived.
Shelly at Bootleg camp
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